By Walter SaboSabo MediaChairman
NEW YORK — Most talk stations are scheduled rather than programmed. When I talk to talent they always say, “No one has taught me anything. No coaching.”
When I meet with most GMs their common complaint is, “The PD doesn’t meet with the talent.”

These five upgrades to your on-air work will improve your PPM performance and it’s what I would hound you about if I was your program director:

1. Do not, ever under any circumstance promote commercials. Do not say, “We have to break.” “We are going to pay some bills.” “We will be back.” If you wouldn’t hear it on a top 40 station don’t do it on your show.

2. Who are you? Who is your guest? What are you talking about? What is your phone number? It is amazing how long a person can listen to most talk shows and not hear the basics. I’ve heard so-called experts say that it is easy to teach the formatics. Well, either they aren’t taught or they aren’t used because they are rarely heard. As a result, the myth persists that talk is a low-cume format. Not the stations I consult, they cume like a top 40.

3. What’s next? Don’t refer to past events unless you are willing to explain them in detail.